They’re
Philip, Joanne and Susan! (and Neil and Russell)They come from SheffieldThey argue constantly!And they used to be very famous
indeed!

WORDS: MARK FRITH

The
Human League are sitting around on sofas in their posh new studio in their
home town of Sheffield, surrounded by trendy magazines and videos. Singer,
Philip Oakey (34), is very tall with long hair which he wears tied back and
is dressed in leather trousers and sturdy boots. He looks the epitome of a
mean and tough biker, though he’s currently engaged in unpacking the new mop
he’s just bought from the local department store. The two other singers,
Joanne Catherall and Susan Sulley (both 27), are sitting on the settee,
discussing their night out on the town they had the other week and what they
might wear onTop Of The Pops.

Every now and
then, they all stop what they’re doing and argue with each other. The Human
League argue about anything and everything: music, the Poll Tax, the local
council, Sheffield – you name it and they’ll disagree about it!

The two
newest members of the group, Neil and Russell, sensibly keep out of it and
quietly tinker about on the studio console in the background. We’re all
gathered here to contemplate the League’s return to the pop arena and they
most certainly have a story to tell…

“We
were the biggest band in the world
for six months,” says Philip and indeed they were. At the end of 1981 and
the beginning of 1982, The Human league were massive. They had a
million-selling Christmas Number One single in Britian with “Don’t You Want
Me” and led the British pop invasion into America. They became known for
their lop-sided hair-do’s, dodgy dancing but top-notch pop songs.

But it wasn’t
always so good. The League used to be a strange boffin-like band who showed
arty film slides during their gigs until two of the original members left to
become Heaven 17. Then Philip met Joanne and Susan in a local nightclub and
decided they’d look great in his group. Deciding to be a proper pop group,
they turned into a glamorous musical sensation overnight. But they took
years to make new LPs and everyone got fed up of waiting for them. They did
have a hit in 1986 with a song called “Human”, which they made with Janet
Jackson’s producers, but it was only a brief return to fame. Nevertheless,
The Human League were on of the finest groups ever.

The
League was always credited with
making great record and to this day pop icons like the Pet Shop Boys and
S’Express credit them as influence. And now they’re returning to the charts
with their new single “Heart Like A Wheel” and there’s a forthcoming LP
“Romantic?” But what do they think of the competition that’s cropped up
while they’ve been gone?

and LFO are
the sort of thing we were doing 12 years ago. We didn’t have drum machines
because there weren’t any but apart from that we were doing it. It’s good
stuff, that. My favourite record of the last year was the Fresh Four single
‘Wishing On A Star’…

Susan:
“I like Kylie – she’s got a good voice.”Philip: “You don’t like her,
do you Joanne?(Joanne shakes her head
most emphatically.)I do – I like
most Stock, Aitken & Waterman stuff. They’re really good songwriters.”

Susan: “You
listen to a record because you like it, wheter it’s made by Kylie Minogue or
Whitesnake. Take the music for what it is. What do I think about New Kids On
The Block? I don’t think about them.”

Joanne:
“I don’t understand them.”Philip: “Their manager’s done
bloody well. You can’t fault him, old Freddie Starr…”As well as having “strong”
opinions on just about everything, The Human League are, as we observed
earlier, justly famous for having arguments – particularly with one another.
They’ve always done it. Indeed, Joanne and Philip – who were going out with
each other for six or seven years – have actually just split up. It’s still
a sensitive subject so we don’t discuss it. But, generally speaking, are
they all still friends?

Susan:
“It fluctuates daily, but yeah we are. You’ve got to be really. I argue the
most and I cry the most.”

The
reason that they’ve been away so long
this time, say The Human league, is that they’ve been waiting for their new
studio, a small but rather posh affair in the centre of Sheffield, to be
built. They don’t think much to the music business at all and don’t even see
themselves as pop stars, despite having had 11 Top 30 hits in the last ten
years. “George Michael and Paul McCartney are pop starts – we’re not,”
reckons Joanne. In fact, The Human league say they are really quite content
ti sit in their studio, go to their favouriteYankees
hamburger restaurant and be “quite boring” for the rest of their lives. But
Los Angeles – the swimming pools, the swank pads, the limos! Susan, surely
you’re tempted…

“I’d get off
to LA tomorrow if I had the chance! Actually, to tell you the truth, even if
we could afford it we probably wouldn’t end up doing it. We’d probably stay
in Sheffield.”